1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring apparatus for making viewpoint conversion of each of the imaged pictures of plural imaging units into overhead pictures with the same depression angle and joining their overhead pictures and generating a wide overhead picture.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a monitoring apparatus in which the periphery of a vehicle is imaged by cameras installed in the vehicle and the imaged pictures are displayed on a display device installed in the vehicle is becoming prevalent. As the cameras, cameras for imaging all the blind corners of the vehicle, for example, a camera for imaging a portion close to the front of the vehicle or a camera for imaging a corner portion of a bumper have been proposed and in the future, it is expected that many cameras will be installed in the vehicle.
In such a monitoring apparatus, means for making viewpoint conversion of an imaged picture of a camera into, for example, an overhead picture from just above and displaying the picture in order to facilitate a grasp of a sense of distance between my vehicle and an obstruction on a display picture has been proposed (related art 1).
Also, in such a monitoring apparatus, means for imaging a picture showing a wide range of the periphery of a vehicle using a wide-angle camera and scrolling and displaying the wide imaged picture on a display screen, for example, according to the amount of handle rotation has been proposed (related art 2).
When the overhead picture of the related art 1 can also be acquired as a wide picture (that is, a wide overhead picture) as described in the related art 2, for example, as described in the related art 2, a wide range of blind corner information can be provided on the display screen and usefulness is enhanced.